Psyche. Spirit. Justice.

Blessed Are The Therapists And Social Workers

To be a therapist or a social worker is to be a guardian of secrets. It is to be entrusted. It is a sacred trust. It is to be a safe deposit box for the soul’s work.
It is a priesthood.
It is to walk through the darkest and brightest places in the human psyche and the material world. It is to engage in spiritual warfare. It is bear witness to the evil and the ugliness and the hidden beauty in and around us.
It is to be an exorcist.
It is to assist in the calling out, naming, and expulsion of that which is destructive and life-taking.
It is midwifery.
It is assisting in the miraculous process of new life coming into the world.
It is to be a hospice worker.
It is to help in the process of letting go.
It is to be a chaplain.
It is to sit with the grieving and hurting knowing the inadequacy of words.
It is to be a trauma nurse.
It is to wrap the unseen wounds and to dress the invisible lacerations.
It is to be an x-ray technician.
It is to see what lies beneath the surface.
It is discipleship.
It is calling people into their higher selves. It is seeing who they really are even when they can’t.
It is to protest.
It is to rebel, to stand up, and to speak out against the oppressors, inner and outer.
It is to be an abolitionist.
It is to link point A to point B despite the obstacles. It is to pursue freedom.
It is to be a partner in battle.
It is the opportunity to be to another as Jonathan was to David.
And, ultimately, to be a therapist or social worker is to be blessed. It is to be blessed with eyes to see. It is the gift of witnessing, and participating in, the full spectrum of the human experience. And it is the joy of being a partner on the journey.

Share:

Ashley Jones

From one therapist to another- thank you for this! What a beautifully written expression of the privilege we’ve been gifted by God.

Lauretta Gomez

I am having a very difficult time recently with Christian’s, they are not very Christlike, at least the ones I am in contact with. I actually see Christ in this prayer.
Thank you

Noreen Thompson

Thank you for this beautiful reminder of our sacred work.

Tony Caldwell is a clumsy follower of Jesus, the Christ. He is also a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist in private practice, a lecturer in the Social Work Department at the University of Mississippi, and a musician. Tony and his family live in Oxford, Mississippi.